Emotions Book

Bubble (who has ASD) has been without her usual Occupational Therapy for the last few months and as a result we've been experiencing a lot of over emotional behaviour and meltdowns. She is having a hard time expressing her feelings in a way we can understand, so helping her with her anxieties has been proving difficult.
To try and help her identify and work through her thoughts and feelings I made her an 'emotions book' last week that we use throughout the day and just before bedtime. The idea is that whenever she is experiencing heightened emotions (good or bad) she can use the book to identify how she feels and we can then try and talk about them.
She loves the tactile nature of the front cover and it gives us a springboard for discussing emotions as they occur, why or where they have come from and what we can do about them. It's also a great distraction tool and a way for her to download before going to bed.

WE USED:

* small notepad/notebook
* small key rings displaying different emotions
(I found these in our local dollar shop but you could use anything similar. Stickers, stamps, foam shapes, even draw your own or use your child's own artwork).
* superglue
* pens/pencils

We were very lucky to find a great set of emotions charms/key rings in our dollar shop that were perfect for our book. They are rubber so a great tactile tool as well as being bright and fun to look at. Bubble loves rainbows so I chose a colourful notebook to go with them and some special pens for her to use with her book.

The charms were easy to superglue to the front of the notebook. Laminated pictures, stickers or anything else you can find with emotions on them will do the job just as well. They provide a visual cue for your child to help them identify how the feel.

Once Bubble has shown me how she is feeling we write it as a heading on a page in her book and then she lists what is making her feel that way. Sometimes she doesn't know, so we just talk about what we can do to make her feel better (if she is feeling negatively) draw a picture or talk about her day.

Glitter Stickers

Yes, we've started on the Christmas crafts already, I just can't wait for December to start getting festive!
Yesterday we made some window decorations using a bit of an adaptation to the Sticky Window Art and the Confetti Snow Pictures we did last year. This time though we used glitter (just a warning, that means big time mess so a drop sheet or doing the activity outdoors might be a good idea).
Alternatively you could use coloured sand, torn pieces of alfoil or foil paper or flat sequins for this and still get a glittery effect.

WE USED:

* clear contact
* marker/texta
* scissors
* glitter and sequins

First we used our texta to draw some Christmas outlines (I helped Bubble draw a tree, star, stocking and bell). Then we used scissors to cut them out.

We then cut some of the remnants into strips to use later.

We removed the backing paper from our shapes and laid them sticky side up on the table (I put some coloured paper underneath to help with contrast and clean up, but it's not necessary).
The girls had a lot of fun sprinkling their glitter onto the sticky contact and positioning the sequins. This was a great fine motor activity.

When they were finished we used the strips we'd cut earlier to attach them to the windows.

They look really beautiful glittering in the sun.

Playing With Shadows

We had fun this afternoon using chalk and our shadows to practice emotions and storytelling.

WE USED:

* chalk
* some lovely sunshine!

I drew some expressions on the ground using chalk, making them roughly the same dimensions as the shadows we were casting at the time.

Then it was just a matter of lining ourselves up to give our shadows different 'faces'. It was hilarious!

I asked Bubble questions based on emotions and feelings ("how do you feel about playgroup", "how do you feel about bath time" etc...) and she moved her shadow to her 'answer'.

We did some storytelling where we took turns making up a story and the other person had to act it out with us. Next time we'll have to draw in some scenery and other props! I'm thinking we could make different places, like a park or rooms of a house.

After initially just standing back watching for awhile even Squeak got into it :-D

Cauliflower Prints

WE USED:

* sliced cauliflower florets
* paint
* paintbrushes
* paper

Slice the cauliflower florets as straight as you can, uneven edges will mean your print will not come out as well. If you slice them in half they are easier to hold (rather than in multiple thin slices).

The girls enjoyed the painting part just as much as the printing part!

The prints look like cute little trees, they'd be ideal for making cards or murals.

Squeezy Paste

When squeezing tubes of toothpaste becomes an Olympic event my girls are bringing home the gold baby. Until that glorious day we may as well do it for fun.
As well as the benefits for fine motor control (with the squeezing action) there are many sensory play aspects to this activity as well.
I loved watching the different things the girls did with their tubes; Bubble pretended she was icing a cake and was very particular about where she squeezed her paste and how much, Squeak just loved squeezing the tube as hard as she could and wanted to paint with it using the brushes.
In the words of Bubble, this activity was "really super cool".

WE USED:

* large tubes of toothpaste
(we bought ours really cheaply on clearance. Dollar stores often stock cheap paste as well)

* clear PVC sheet
(ours is a section cut from a shower curtain but you can also buy clear PVC at craft stores. Failing that you could just use a wipeable placemat, glass or plastic top table, plastic tray or something like a large baking dish)

optional ; brushes and scrap cardboard (for clean up)

I covered the tubes of toothpaste so they didn't resemble anything in the bathroom using big label stickers the kids had drawn pictures on. I wanted to differentiate between tubes that were for craft activities and those for personal use!

I just laid our sheet across the table but you could tape it if you need to. A wipeable placemat or series of placemats would work well for this activity as well.

The girls both had different techniques for squeezing their toothpaste and had fun working out the best ways to do it.

Squeak squeezed as much as she could out of her tube and then used the toothbrushes to paint and make patterns.

She especially enjoyed mixing the colours together.

Bubble used her tube for imaginary play, turning this empty ice cream cup into a 'cake' and making 'snails' with her toothpaste.

Bubble icing her cake.

Clean up was made very easy by using a folded piece of scrap cardboard to scrape the paste up (this works well for cleaning up paint as well), then the mat went into the shower for a quick wash down.

Memory Matching Balloons

Yes, yes, another activity involving balloons! They are big time fun at our house as far as my girls are concerned, so steel yourselves for even more of them to come :-)
This game is just like a traditional matching/memory game, but using balloons instead of cards. I designed it to work for both of our girls age groups (2 and 4), to teach colour matching for Squeak and sight word matching for Bubble.
And of course, to have an excuse to run around crazy in a room full of balloons.
That too ;-)

WE USED:

* balloons of the same colour
* stickers
(we used a pack of coloured dots and a pack of large labels)
* texta/marker

optional - we use balloon clips when we play games involving balloons, they can be bought at most party/discount stores very cheaply (we paid $2 for a pack of 100 from our local dollar shop). Using balloon clips instead of tying off balloons means you can deflate them after the fun is over and reuse them again and again. Better for the budget and better for the environment too.

Inflate your balloons and either tie them off or use balloon clips to secure them. You will need enough balloons to create as many pairs as you will be using in your matching game.
We used ten balloons for Squeak's colour matching game and ten for Bubble's sight word game as well.

You will need two sets of each sticker you intend to use for your matching game since you will need 'pairs'.

For Squeak's colour matching game we put ten coloured dots on the sides of ten balloons (two of each of the five colours).

For Bubble's game I wrote her sight words (two of each word) on large label stickers and she attached them to the sides of her ten balloons.

We threw all of the balloons onto the floor, ran around to stir them up so they were jumbled and then raced to see who could find all of their pairs first.
The girls had to find two matching balloons, say the colour/word (or ask me what it was) then put them on the bed before finding their next pair. There was a lot of crawling, running, sharing and learning going on.

Nature Theme - Magnifier Discovery Board

A little while ago we created our own Magnifier Discovery Board which was a big hit with the girls. Today we took it with us to a Botanical Garden and filled it with interesting things we found there.
This board ended up involving more than just the visual element because the girls lifted the lids to feel and smell the things inside.

WHAT WE FOUND:

* fine sand
* gravel stones
* seed heads from different grasses
* thistles
* dried leaves with a spotted pattern
* bark
* dandelion spores
* tiny flowers
* small gum nuts/seed pods